[jonhendry]

"A slightly broken analogy would be breaking into a house to remove a hornets nest. Even if you do it carefully and not do any damage and what you do is beneficial for the community as a whole, it's contrary to the law."

On the other hand, you can't give a choking person the heimlich maneuver, or perform CPR on someone, without physical contact that could be construed as assault (or battery? not sure) in any other context.